The dean of the Faculty of Humanities, Dr Laura Gandolfi, recently took part in the International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) in Paris, one of the most significant academic gatherings worldwide dedicated to the study of Latin America and its cultures.
Dr Gandolfi was invited to take part in and chair the panel “Intimate and literary revolutions: contemporary Mexican poetics”, alongside researchers from internationally renowned universities, including the University of California, Irvine, the University of Texas at Austin and Osnabrück University.
The panel focused on the work of several contemporary Mexican women writers and examined how their works explore human experience through themes such as everyday life, care, personal relationships, memory, spirituality and the search for meaning. The various presentations highlighted the value of literature as a space for reflection on the individual and the community, as well as its capacity to offer new ways of understanding the challenges of the contemporary world.
“Taking part in this event allowed me to engage in dialogue with researchers and specialists on some of the questions currently shaping Mexican literature: how we narrate violence, how we understand care, motherhood, emotions and our relationship with time. It has been an opportunity to see that literature remains a privileged space for exploring the human experience and for generating critical conversations that transcend academic and geographical boundaries”, explained the dean.
Dr Gandolfi presented the paper “Poéticas de la atención y formas de lo místico en Principio, medio, fin de Valeria Luiselli” (Poetics of attention and forms of the mystical in Principio, medio, fin by Valeria Luiselli), focusing on an analysis of the Mexican author’s most recent novel, who visited UIC Barcelona to deliver a masterclass in May.
Her work examined how the play develops an aesthetics of attention inspired by the thinking of Simone Weil and María Zambrano, emphasising listening, care and openness to transcendence as forms of knowledge and as fundamental elements of human experience.
In addition to her scientific contribution, the invitation to chair this panel represents international recognition of Dr Gandolfi’s research career and helps to strengthen UIC Barcelona’s presence in leading international academic forums.
